#don’t blame me for being a vegetarian

[indigoipsum]

Just had some soy bacon mmm delicious <- soy boy spotted

[la-di-da-la-di-dee-die]

@wolfythewitch ‘s Gravity Fowls au has awoken a lost childhood memory of mine recently, specifically because their au is so similar to one of my favorite books when I was a kid: Fantastic Mr. Fox

Basic summary of the book: Three Evil Capitalist Farmers attempt to starve local anthro fox family who regularly steal their products (chickens, goose, duck, turkey, and apples/cider) via bio terrorism, failing miserably at every turn.

Now, you may be wondering, what the actual fuck does that have to do with Gravity Fowls? Well, a major part of the book is that the previously mentioned anthro-fox family has been forced underground by previously mentioned Evil Capitalist Farmers, and so Mr. Fox (the mc) has to devise a fool proof method of getting his family food: tunneling farther underground toward the Evil Capitalist Farms and stealing their produce that way instead of the regular way. I don’t know why, but that just sounds like something Bill would do? Like it just fits his vibes.

So, I just had to draw Bill in Mr. Fox’s outfit!

Isn’t he just so handsome? I also drew one other fanart, and some quick context for this next one:

The Evil Capitalist Farmers also accidentally drive the other wildlife into hiding with their bio-terrorism, which are also anthropomorphic (note: all the animals are anthro, but not the chickens or other produce? Probably too dark for a kids book idk). The other animals blame Mr. Fox for being a fucking sneak, and Mr. Fox is like, woah guys! Don’t worry, I’ve fixed everything, I’ve got an infinite food glitch! We just use these tunnels me and the fam have dug to steal more food! I even got some carrots for the vegetarians! And the other animals are like, alright seems legit.

Why all this context? Because I drew Bill’s henchmaniac crew as origami animals based off the other animals from Fantastic Mr. Fox:

I imagine they still live in the nightmare dimension, but they just origami now. btw all the animals in the book have names like Mr. Weasel, and Mr. Mole, with wife and kids too, which is wild to me. Except Mr. Rat. He’s an aweful disgusting thief (which, who in this book isn’t??) whose constantly getting drunk off Cider (which, again, who tf in this book isn’t?? Even one of the anthro-kids gets drunk at some point??)

But I didn’t just make fanart that catered to me and only me, I also made this:

I had this thought of, what if during weirdmagedon, instead of just getting a 3D form, Bill turns into an actual fox, not just an origami one? So that’s where this came from. Also it should be criminal how long it took me to draw Stanford! I spent so long on that fucking chicken.

Uhm, conclusion? Gravity Fowls is awesome, and respect to Wolfythewitch for being able to actually draw chickens consistently well, I only dream to be able to master that skill.

[mynameisjag]

Because I gotta.

Give me the feral man, give me the beastie who has probably been avoiding human contact as much as possible except to get drunk off his ass. This man has no idea of his own universe's tech, you think he has a chance understanding the one he has been kidnapped into? No. Bastard stinky man, feral, sad looking fucker…I adore him.

He needs to be more animalistic.

One would think by now, Wade would have experienced and seen what the multiverse had to offer.

Working with people over seeing different timelines did that.

So did being aware of the ‘audience’ and their many eyes.

Still, watching an almost naked knockoff werewolf scuttled across the room on all fours with what appeared to be a bloody carcass of some kind of animal in his mouth while growling like a demented cat, it was surprising.

“Well, chat, can I ask, what is this r rated looney tunes bullshit? Hey, Tasmanian Devil’s estranged cousin, you better be cleaning this up soon! We just got these floors!”

And Logan was already in the bedroom with his catch, probably hunkered down in his hammock and going to town some poor innocent creature’s remains.

“Whatever, I do cocaine, I have no room to judge.”

Sure enough, stepping over the trail of blood and pushing the door open revealed what he already expected to find. The crunch of bones and squelching of raw meat being chewed on, blown out brown eyes were glaring at him and a gutteral snarl giving warning.

“Easy there, boy, just checking up on ya, seems you brought home dinner for yourself tonight, didn’t even get me anything?”

The snarling stopped and the bloody remains were held out to him, the little head tilt would be cute if not for the smear of gore across his concerned face.

Actually it was still cute.

“Awe, thank you! But I’m good…and he’s going back to eating that, well…I’m going to go throw up now and contemplate the merits of becoming a vegetarian…so…how about a time skip for everyone's sake?”

With a time skip activated, cleaned floors appearing and a still half naked Logan chilling on the couch scratching Mary Puppins behind the ears as she chewed on bone with drool going everywhere.

Some of that drool might be Wade’s but who could blame him, but he had to pull himself together and not be distracted by the feast for the eyes and focus on the feast of the flesh that happened in the bedroom and not the fun type.

“Hey, honey, can we take a minute away from the,” he glanced at the show, “huh, didn’t think that was still going…no, focus Wade…right, Logan, my little murder puppy…the fuck did I just witness?”

“Got hungry, went hunting, ate.”

“Right, and the, not that I’m complaining about the view because I should be taking pictures, but why were you half dressed on all fours, should I be concerned?”

“Easier to hunt…comfortable…”

“Alright…”

Okay, let’s give the big guy a moment…

Shrugging before plopping down nearly on top of the man, Wade just grinned at the sharp look sent his way as Dogpool jumped down and carried her prize off somewhere.

It took two episodes in before Logan huffed, voice barely audible over the TV as he finally spoke.

“…people hated me back home…when they hate you…you tend to be unwelcomed in most if not every place…hotels…bars…stores…”, bare hands were flexing, dark fingernails just slightly pointed and severely cracked, “you get used to the surviving…you get used to avoiding those places…”

Wade reached over to grab one of the hands, flipping it over to trace a pattern in the rough palm, “but they don’t hate you here? You can go in and if they try to stop you or have anything to say about it…then they won’t have a choice in the matter after I visit them.”

The smirk he sent to the ex X-man, wasn’t that a strange combination of words, was met with huff.

“…it’s the crowd of people, the smells, the sounds…it brings back the memories…but staying inside is like a slow torture…hunting and losing myself made it easier to cope.”

“Trust me, if anyone knows anything of trying to make yourself disappear using whatever is available for just a moment of not having to think of what kind of shit haunts you…its me…”

“Hmm…”

“So if being the feral little man you are makes you feel better, just little heads up next time, your hammock is still dripping blood on our new floors.”

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

WIBTA for “weaponizing the police” against my ex boyfriend? I (27) dated my ex (24) from late July to early October 2023.

TW: harassment, stalking, gaslighting, police (obvs lol)

You may remember the “AITA for breaking up with my boyfriend over pizza and a blowjob” and “AITA for telling my ex not to use a picture of himself in my bra as his pfp” stories.

TLDR:

I wouldn’t give him head bc my shoulder hurt from making him a custom mask for a fandom he’s super into. He screamed at me for asking him to get half-cheese pizza going forward (because the pizza we were eating had pepperoni under the cheese and I’m vegetarian); triggering my ptsd. So I broke up with him. NTA, conscience cleared. 👍

Months later; he sent me a screenshot from his twitter and his pfp was him wearing the mask I hurt my shoulder making for him… and my bra. When I told him to change it, he said I was using “white girl tears” and “treating him like Hitler.” He did change his pfp though.

I was voted NTA and encouraged to get a restraining order and “block him” which I had done over a dozen times, but he keeps making new numbers.

/TLDR

NOW…

From late October to now, he’s been on-again-off-again harassing me; using temporary phone numbers to accuse me of being narcissistic, abusive, evil, etc. I usually don’t respond, but he has a way of phrasing things so they stick in my mind like thorns.

No threats, just verbal abuse, gaslighting, victim blaming, and other mind games that he always wins.

I’ve told him to stop and blocked every number he’s contacted me from, and I’m looking into changing my number.

I also told him that if he didn’t leave me alone i would get a restraining order, and he told me i would be “weaponizing the police.”

He’s black and we live in the USA so I honestly don’t want to involve the police. I know police brutality is a very real problem and even though he’s made my life miserable and tanked my mental health, I would never wish that upon him. I just want him to leave me alone.

I looked it up, and the police would only be involved to serve him the court summons; everything else would be through the courts.

I still worry they would hurt him while serving the orders.

If IWBTA for getting the court system involved, please offer (realistic!) alternative solutions in the comments. I’m already looking into changing my number, but he lives 1/4 mile away from me and I can’t afford a security system.

Sending love and safety to you and everyone who read this whole mess. ❤️‍🩹💝💖

What are these acronyms?

[enter-the-phantom]

My top moments of Semifinals Night 1:

-“Don’t blame me, I voted for Finland too.”

-Ukraine going from Circle of Life to a giant lesbian cuddle pile

-Swedish twins Backstreet Boys but make it knockoff cyberpunk

-Serbia getting ready to sink the Titanic

-Ireland bringing us all to tears with the trans flag costume reveal

-Gay boxer shower sex but in space

-Finland not changing a damn thing about their staging because it’s perfection. The effects and choreo cleverly blocking our hero’s junk was just *chefs kiss* 👌🏻

-Poland fighting for her life against life size chess pieces while borrowing Joost’s shoulder pads

-Kaarija mention

-Epic Sax Guy mention

-That one couple that came in 20th but was actually the cutest thing I’ve ever seen in my life

-Shoulder dancing

-Laser show farm animals

-Zaachariaha Fielding Michael Ross (I’m dumb af) actually being the most Australian looking dude one can imagine

-That one guy in the audience on the Peacock broadcast who was definitely being held there against his will

-“For the vegetarians, vegetable lasagna without babies”

[cal-daisies-and-briars]

Hi Cal :) I think you know what I’m here for.

☠️☠️☠️☠️☠️☠️☠️☠️ ☠️☠️☠️☠️☠️☠️☠️☠️

Hell yeah! 48 for ☠️:

---

“Everything was going fine,” says one of Tommy’s friends from Harbor. Matt. One is Matt, the other is Mark. Athena struggles to distinguish between them, honestly. “Tommy’s parties are always a little… Well, okay. He’s not exactly a riot when he’s the host. So I was surprised he suggested it honestly.”

“Honestly, half the reason I came was because he makes a killer caesar.” Mark explains. “I’ve been vegan for three years, and Tommy always makes vegan and non-vegan options.”

So the party was stale but the drinks were good. Thus explains more and more of Eddie, Chimney, Hen, and Karen’s state of inebriation. Athena doesn’t blame them, to be honest. 

Things started to go wrong shortly after Eddie was revealed as the murder victim, fictionally impaled with a fire poker. 

“Again, let me say, no one was surprised he chose me,” Eddie grumbles. 

“And why is that?” Ransone asks him. 

“He hasn’t liked me since he and Buck started dating,” Eddie shrugs. “I don’t know why. We used to be friends.”

Athena wonders if Eddie might be walking around with a blindfold on. 

Of course, Tommy’s jealousy over Buck and Eddie’s closeness was not the reason the party went to hell. Though perhaps it may have been, if someone hadn’t literally died before that could happen. 

“Right after the murder was revealed, Tommy served the caesars,” Buck explains. “Which I was pretty excited about, because I’ve heard so much about them. But he never makes them unless there’s a party. Anyway, two trays of drinks. Vegan and non-vegan. And the first thing I noticed that was weird is that Captain Gerrard went for the vegan.” 

“Why was that weird?” Ransone asks. 

Buck’s mouth twists to the side a little as he thinks about how best to answer. 

“Uh, he doesn’t hold plant-based lifestyles in a very high regard,” Buck answers diplomatically. “He wasn’t into it when I suggested a vegetarian meal at the fire station one night.”

This gives Athena pause. Because she knows Buck isn’t being fully forthcoming. She remembers the incident he’s talking about, because he complained to Bobby about it and she overheard. 

I wanted to try an Ethiopian lentil recipe and he called me a soy-boy! He said all that tofu would give me breasts! 

Buck had been livid. 

Why isn’t he saying that now? This is Buck, though. He’s kind. Gentle. Maybe he doesn’t want to talk poorly of the dead. 

“Well, of course Vince went for the vegan pitcher!”

[griffynbird101]

On the fandoms hatred for Irina Denali:

So I see A lot of hate in the fandom for Irina Denali. I think this is unjustified lemme tell you why;

First; people blame her for abandoning the Cullens in Eclipse. I would like to point out that this was the entire Denali clans decision not just Irina, she couldn’t make a decision for the entire coven especially since she isn’t the leader. Let me show you how it looks from the Denali’s perspective; Laurent is a vampire, even if the Denali are vegetarians they weren’t for a long time and they probably don’t think badly on non-vegetarian vampires just like the Cullens don���t, it is natural for vampires to prey on humans. 2. The Denali respect the law. The Cullens do not, and their refusal to follow the law is ultimately what started this whole mess in the first place. 3. The Denali agree to help the Cullens if the Cullens help them get revenge. The Cullens do not agree, therefore they basically say “If you don’t help us we won’t help you”.

To summarize: Bella is a human, by the law she should be turned or killed and as long as she’s human the Cullens are breaking the law. And many of the Cullens (ex: Rosalie and Edward) plan on continuing to do this. Laurent would be following the law by killing Bella, and he would be following his natural instincts as a vampire. Laurent wouldn’t have attempted if the Cullens had turned Bella like they were supposed to. So from their perspective, Laurent was unjustifiably killed and the Cullens are to blame. They ask the Cullens to rectify this by stepping aside and allowing them to take revenge on what the Denali see as an inhuman species which hate vampires for being vampires and are therefore their natural enemies to begin with. They even throw a cherry on top and say; “Hey if you let us do this, we will turn a blind eye to your law breaking and help you keep your human alive.” The Cullens refuse and still have the audacity to ask whether they will be helped. The Denali make the decision to let the Cullens deal with their own problems. The Cullens refuse to help the Denali in what they see as justifiable revenge so why should the Denali help the Cullens.

THEN, the Cullens have a hybrid child. This is not against the law, and in fact if they had went to the Volturi with this the Volturi wouldn’t have punished them for it. The Cullens have not broken the law in this, and in fact hybrids are better at keeping the secret than regular vampires because they are closer to human. The Volturi may have wanted to observe Renesmee as they did with the immortal children before outlawing them but would have ultimately failed to claim Renesmee as an immortal child because of her incredible self control and growth rate. So far, the only real gripe the Volturi had with the Cullens is their refusal to turn Bella human which they have now done as promised.

They don’t do this. So when Irina goes to FIX things with the Cullens she see what she believes can only be an immortal child, something that is not only illegal but something she has a personal history with. This is it, to Irina the Cullens have crossed a line with or without Laurent. In this, Irina is the responsible one who goes and informs the Volturi that the law has been broken.

(also I want to reiterate that a rational person would not have gone down to “give the Cullens as chance to explain” the world doesn’t know about hybrids. From Irina’s perspective the Cullens have broken the law in the worst possible way and created an immortal child. Going down to say “Hey I know you broke the law” to group of seven vampires would be signing her death warrant. When Irina discovers the truth she apologizes for the misunderstanding and takes full responsibility for her actions.)

And what do the Cullens do when they find out the Volturi think they have an immortal child? Not smooth over the misunderstanding, they choose to amass an army. The whole reason the Volturi show up is because the Cullens have not only broken the law, but are actively challenging their rule. THIS COULD ALL HAVE BEEN AVOIDED IF THE CULLENS INFORMED THE VOLTURI.

So then, Irina is executed. But only on false information that was fed to her accidentally by the Cullens. And because the Volturi needed to show that there would be repercussions for amassing an army. Irina couldn’t possibly have known the truth about Renesmee.

Everything that happens to the Denali is the Cullens fault. And if I were the Volturi, I would wipe out the Cullen clan at the first chance because they do not respect the law or understand the full scope of their actions, and in fact they’ve gotten away with a lot simply through Carlisle’s friendship with Aro.

[mfenvs3000f23]

Small actions, big outcomes! Environment as a frequent classroom topic!

Describe your personal ethic as you develop as a nature interpreter. What beliefs do you bring? What responsibilities do you have? What approaches are most suitable for you as an individual?

This is my final blog post and you likely do not know who I am, but if you are interested, I invite you to delve into Madeline Fantin’s interpretive ethics, values, and ideas for the future.

To start, what beliefs do I bring? I am a wildlife biology and conservation student; therefore, the vast majority of my courses have looked through a scientific lens (western science that is). Perhaps the reason I chose my program is due to possibly my most core belief, that individuals have the power and influence necessary to make a real difference. This is why I became a vegetarian even though my entirely Italian family thinks I’m bonkers, I think one person cutting their carbon emissions is a worthwhile effort. Are billionaires flying their private jets around for unsatisfactory reasons and investing in all kinds of large corporations who dump pollution directly into our environment? Yes of course, and don’t get me wrong, I think part of the fight towards a healthy planet is holding the extremely wealthy accountable. Perhaps they are hoping we will put all the blame on ourselves so that we ignore their insurmountable consumption. However, we are consumers too and where possible, we can choose where to put our money and how to live our lives to a certain extent. I believe that however small, the average citizen’s fight against climate change is valuable and necessary. In conversations I have had with the people in my life, I have learned that many people become unmotivated by the “all or nothing” mindset. For example, I frequently hear people say that they “could never go without meat all the time.” So don’t! Have meatless Mondays! Have meatless weekends! Go pescatarian! Go meatless biweekly! There are unlimited combinations of schedules that could provide a more reasonable expectation. The effort doesn’t need to be “perfect” to be worth something. This can be applied to many environmental actions. In most places in Ontario, it wouldn’t be reasonable to ask people to use public transport or bike as a main form of transportation. Most cities don’t have great public transport, and most people live a long, long bike ride away from their place of work. However just because you cannot bike to work doesn’t mean you can’t ever trade the car for your bike. Maybe there’s a friend you often visit just on the other side of the neighborhood, and maybe you usually drive to them, but when the weather is ideal and if you are able, the bike could work! Many “imperfect” actions are better than no action at all I promise!!!! There is no shame in not being the perfect environmentalist all the time, it is near impossible in the society we have created.

I also believe that there is something to be gained from spending time in nature, for anyone. Whether that is a chance to gather thoughts, get some exercise, some vitamin D, you name it. I don’t think it needs to be picturesque either. Sometimes connecting with nature looks like sitting on the curb outside your east campus townhouse because the sun has reappeared after some days of gloom. Sometimes you will have the energy to head to the arboretum, but when you don’t, taking a sunny break on the curb is better than skipping the outdoors all together. Again, it doesn’t have to be all or nothing.

I believe it is never too late to get started! Everyone, no matter the age or circumstance, should feel like they have a place in the world of nature interpretation and the outdoors. Having not grown up in an outdoor adventure family doesn’t mean you can’t have any outdoor adventures! On that point, outdoor adventures are whatever you make them. They need not be a costly trip to the other side of the continent. Someone with the right mindset could gain more from an hour by the local creek, than someone with the wrong mindset on their trip to Mount Kilimanjaro.

What responsibilities do I have? Well, there are the obvious ones such as to deliver the program I have advertised, inform guests about risk, manage and prevent dangers, present accurate information, check my bias and privilege, to be fun and engaging, and for guests to leave feeling like they have benefitted in some way. Other more specific responsibilities I believe depend on the approach…

So what approaches are the most suitable for me? Well, it is my goal to get into teaching in high school classrooms. This is not the type of environment we have spent the last few months discussing, but nonetheless I think there is a ton of relevant overlap. Nature interpretation could take place in the classroom, or the school yard. There may also be opportunity for class trips where students could be exposed to new ways of learning or new environments.

When relevant to the content, I would aim to stimulate interest and conversation about the environment and environmental issues happening around the world, as they relate to us in Canada and otherwise. I probably plan on living in Canada, and therefore will need to create programs suitable for all 4 seasons. This could mean the same topic modified with each passing season, different topics in each season, or a combination. I am excited to take advantage of the variance each season brings. I think many topics in the high school curriculum could benefit from an environmental lense, and I would look to make connections throughout where possible.

 I would look to encourage active learning and participation through mediums the students may be interested in, just like we talked about all the different mediums of nature interpretation. If I’m teaching grade 9 or 10 science, then this class is still required of them, and many may only be there by necessity. They might not want to be there or have particular interest in the content, which is ok, and I would need to navigate how to still make sure they get what they are meant to, even if they never develop excitement about it.

To revisit responsibilities, as a teacher I must provide a classroom environment conducive to learning, where everyone feels comfortable, valued, and that students look forward to attending each day.

For my final blog post outro (☹), I will say that climate doomism is very contagious and easy to get wrapped up in. I think one of the most important things we can do as nature interpreters is spark hope for change. You never know who is looking to you when they are feeling discouraged about the state of the world, and how you can provide them motivation to keep fighting the good fight!

[booksandchainmail]

Pale 11.2 extra

I just want you to know I’ve been trying to be my best self and do good in the world and if there’s something that ends up keeping me from coming back to you guys I hope you know that at least.

this bit is incredibly sad to me. "If I died, I died doing the right thing" is actually a pretty good ending, but coming from a kid it's just bleak

All the not listening you did and the ignoring me and everything? I forgive you for that and I think I understand

I wonder how this will feel going on? I imagine that even if Avery is glossing over this a bit for her parents to not feel guilty, she must have done some final sour searching to reach this point. It must be weird to come to terms with everyone in your life, be prepared to not leave regrets behind, and then get to keep on going with the clean slate

Sheridan, you had my back when it counted and I can’t tell you what it means to me, or how it changed the idea of what family is in my head. You get so down on yourself but you’re so so so much better and cooler than you think you are.

oh... that;s really sweet

A beautiful woman once told me I was on the cusp of losing my connection to humanity.

lol at specifying beautiful

no comments on the rest of Avery's letter to Ms. Hardy because I'm tearing up

If I can escape the chaos do you want to hang? We can hang out with Sir and chat art orrrr We could hang out and you can take your shirt off and I can draw you orrrrrrr We could hang out and we both take our shirts off and we can pretend we’re confused about who is supposed to be painting who before finding something else to do

smooth

I told Lucy and Avery and a woman called Miss to pass on a password for a gallery I sent you.  You’re my designated replacement if anything happens and that gallery has the big rundown.  Yep, you thought you were getting to know me?  That was all the tip of the iceberg, buddy.

I'm picturing Jeremy opening this, reading it, and realizing that a girl who was a pretty new friend in his life had no outside contact closer than him

On that note? I’m writing this under the assumption that they’re there. Avery Kelly and Lucy Ellingson. No other end result is okay in my books.

oh Verona

Care and Feeding of Lucy Ellingson and Avery Kelly: I liked the headline but because I wrote it I gotta let you know the feeding part: Lucy gets into stuff like pepperoni sticks and sour foods and things that make you go WOAH (except garlic and onions apparently) and it’s all intense and crap but when you get down to it I think she likes sweet and savory stuff most.  Avery is a vegetarian and she can eat next to anything you could call food, now, but I think what matters is that it comes from a place of care. She likes fruity flavors and mellow stuff. If Lucy’s down and out and needs nourishment to get back in the game then a chance to have a savory home cooked meal or a sweet treat she can spend a bit enjoying would do it for her.  For Avery, just the fact that you notice she’s down and out is important and then you can hand her a sports drink or something and she’ll be up for more.

aww, funny and cute that she's leaning into this bit, deeply touching that she knows this about them

[Tash is] about three years older than us she’s super cool enough I wouldn’t blame you for getting a crush on her. 😉

... yeah that's fair! Don't know how Jeremy would feel about the eyes, but I love that it's not a factor for Verona

If you bring me back as a composite echo and someone wants to take me as a familiar to help clarify me further then I’m down.

what the hell. I mean a good backup plan! But a hell of a lot of pressure to drop casually at the end of this letter

If not or if that’s weird then don’t sweat it.  Thanks for being a friend.

or don't resurrect me if you don't want! wild.

I got lucky because home was the place I could come back to to unload the small things, instead.  This was pretty close to perfect. Except I haven’t come home to unload this time, if you’re reading the letter.

yeah tearing up again

Zed has agreed he’ll fill you in if someone needs to.  He knows most of the story and it’s easier for him to answer your questions than for me to explain everything here.  Imagining you going through my stuff and uncovering it all with a terrible look on your face is making this too hard to write.

Interesting to me that Lucy is the only on who leaves information for her mom to take action, I guess because neither Verona or Avery feel that their parents are particularly useful

As a last ditch effort if the cops fail and Avery and Verona are gone you can contact a man I listed on the sheet. His name is Samaniego and he organizes people who hunt monsters like one of the ones I’m about to fight.

damn that's a nuclear option. But I suppose if all the girls are dead there's no point in playing fair or easy

I don’t want this to end without there being justice.  If I was capable of accepting any other answer then I think this might be the point I gave up.  I could let Edith win, I could choose the option where I didn’t risk me dying and you having to find this letter. I can’t.  I can’t let the people who would do that get what they want and take any more power or get any more influence.

Lucy... I love how much her principles come through in this. Avery may be the soft heart in the group and Lucy all business in her letter, but peel back the focus and drive and you get this moral determination

This can’t end without justice of some sort.

[lacewise]

The oddest misinformation campaigns to me are always the one that revolve around a moralistic premise. Let’s use the vegan reputation laundering (their third one in two decades) as an example.

Saying things like “oh vegans and vegetarians have never done anything wrong or gotten any information wrong as a group and everyone is just picking on us poor babies, they just blame us for corporate marketing” just inherently doesn’t sound realistic. Especially when they give partial timelines. Okay, so in the 80s and 90s, pleather was accepted as being inferior to actual leather and nonwoven plastic clothing was known for its features: being hot, sweaty, flaky and uncomfortable. Then in the late 2010s it was seen as a “sacrifice” “for a good cause” to not buy anything like leather (including down, wool, etc). You have to suffer, so that the cows don’t. So what happened in-between?

Well, if you believe viral Tumblr post, corporations started marketing pleather as vegan leather so they could “blame vegans” for their “cheaper products.” Blame vegans for what? This doesn’t make sense to me.

In the first place, it’s best for businesses if they can sell a variety of goods at a variety of price points. Which they were doing, back when pleather was still plastic and people still bought leather shoes (I also don’t think it’s a coincidence that people are marketing new forms of pleather as sustainable right when people have switched back to buying leather products). The plastic the “lesser” items people with little disposable income bought, knowing they would eventually shred (usually within a year), and the real leather was touted as the best quality people with more disposable income could afford.

Things like this do not change in a vacuum.

If I was going to guess, I would say vegans probably did the bulk of the marketing by shaming anyone who bought anything animal-derived and claiming they were funding animal cruelty using cherry-picked data. That combined with selling the plastic leather as a good alternative so they could fit back in with the mostly white middle class they were originally from probably did it. And just like telling people to swap butter for margarine, after its over and people start surveying the damage, it’s not their fault, oh no, how could they have known? They weren’t even tricked, they straight up didn’t do it! They were FRAMED! So it will be with the new plastic “leather”.

It is impossible for me to take seriously. So I don’t.

[ravendruid]

Be In My Eyes - Chapter 6

You can read the previous chapters here or on AO3. I'm sorry it took me a while to upload a new chapter. I hope you like it.

As someone who gets overwhelmed quickly in extensive social contexts, sharing a house with six other people can be exhausting, so Vax'ildan tries to enjoy the moments of solitude as much as he can. 

Vax enjoyed being alone in the darkness of his room, with music as his only company and a dagger in his hands, which is what he was doing when his bedroom door opened. At first, he thought it was Vex since Percy had already left, but then he saw a hint of red hair from the corner of his eyes. When he looked to the door, Keyleth’s head was peeking through, one hand in front of her eyes. Vax could see her lips moving but couldn’t hear anything she was saying. It took him a couple of seconds to realize the music was too loud, so he paused the song and took off his earbuds.

“Hi, Keyleth. Sorry. I couldn’t hear you. Did you need anything?” He asked, sitting up and looking at her.

Keyleth let herself in, closing the door behind her. She had a faint blush on her cheek and was thrumming nervously with her fingers.

“I–I was wondering if you wanted to study with me?” She spoke in a sweet soft voice that made Vax’s toes curl.

“Yeah, of course,” Vax set the blade on his nightstand under Keyleth’s confused gaze. He waited for her to say something, but when she didn’t, he got up from the bed and walked towards her. “I did offer to study with you.”  

They sat on the living room rug, their backs leaning against the couch, with their books opened on the coffee table in front of them all morning. Keyleth was amazed at how patient Vax was with her, answering all her questions and explaining the topics. When he didn’t know the answer right away, she would watch him comb the books for answers until he looked at her with the grin of someone who had found the meaning of life.

Keyleth knew should be paying attention to what he was telling her, but instead, she couldn’t stop staring at his dark eyes, so full of mystery but so calm and kind at the same time. She realized that Vax spent a lot of time by himself or with Vex, only joining the rest of the group when Vex annoyed him to death. Keyleth couldn’t blame him. She found it hard to be around people as well. She was always concerned about what they would think or say or about her saying something ridiculous and being mocked, and that was why she was always quiet.

She hadn’t been alone with Vax that often, but whenever they happened to be alone, she didn’t feel like that. She somehow knew that Vax would not mock her for saying anything stupid or that he would think badly of her, and she felt comfortable with him enough to be herself and make jokes. She didn’t see him smile often – and had never heard him laugh – but she could swear that every time she tripped, spilled something, or said anything remotely funny, she could see the corner of his mouth curl into a smile – not in ridicule, but in amusement –, and that was enough of a win for her.

—

Later that night, Keyleth cooked one of her favorite vegetarian meals for the twins. They ate it together in the living room since the kitchen table was too large for just three people while drinking beer and chatting. Vex was surprised her brother had joined them, but he seemed light and carefree for once, chatting with a smile on his face. 

“You two should totally cook tomorrow, and I’ll take care of the decorations.” She said, pointing at Keyleth and Vax with her bottle and then at herself. She stifled a laugh as they looked at each other in embarrassment. “Just because it’s only the three of us, it doesn’t mean that we don’t get to celebrate Harvest’s Close.”

“Oh. That sounds fun.” Keyleth clapped her hands excitedly, looking at Vax with a begging expression.

“Come on, brother,” Vex teased him. “You can make your amazing pumpkin pie.”

“I don’t know, Vex’ahlia.” Vax’s smile fell, and he started looking around nervously. Shit. He was doing so well.

“You don’t have to, Vax,” Keyleth spoke softly, placing a hand on his arm. Vex noticed how her brother blushed and avoided her gaze, but most importantly, she also caught how Keyleth blushed too. Oh no, this is going to be a problem. “Although, I do love pumpkin pie,” Keyleth added, hooking a finger under her chin contemplative.

“So do I,” Vex pointed out. “And your pumpkin pie is the best in the world. You cannot deprive us of that delicacy, brother.”

“Alright, I’ll do it.” Vax surrendered when Vex looked at him with pleading eyes, but deep down, she knew it hadn’t been her to convince him, but Keyleth. This is going to be a problem indeed.

They spent the rest of the night making plans for the next day. Vex gathered a few coins from the twins’ shared savings for decorations, and Keyleth offered to pay for the food by herself – including the pie ingredients – refusing to take any of the twins’ money. By the end of the night, all three were exhausted but excited. 

Vex couldn’t remember the last time she had seen her brother smile the way he did when he and Keyleth started making plans for the next day. Not the ear-to-ear grin he had as they planned what time they would get groceries together, nor the shine in his eyes when he asked Keyleth what time they should start cooking together. But the cherry on top of the cake for Vex was hearing her brother ask Keyleth – when he thought Vex wasn’t listening – if she would be okay if he helped her with the main dish.

Vex knew she should be happy about her brother, but she also knew he loved so effortlessly and got hurt even easier. She decided not to say anything yet but would keep an eye on them. Vax had done so much to keep Vex safe that she would not let Keyleth break his heart. 

[activate-shadow-of-the-window]

Don’t Tell Me How We’ve Grown From Having Loved a Little While

Hello My Old Heart - The Oh Hellos EP - The Oh Hellos

-

Chapter 7 of Cracking like a dry branch in a westward wind, in which Tango and Martyn get a somewhat belated invite from everyone’s favorite, completely sane florida man. Or bat, in this case. Everyone shows up to Grian’s party, mostly by ship, partly by [REDACTED BY ORDER OF COMMANDER X]. Some very, very old friends are introduced, alongside some new technology. Pearl and Grian get ready to do violence.

Available on AO3 here.

-

Martyn was actually quite comfortable given the circumstances.

When Tango had been transferring the grounded parrot from Blackbone Hospital to Glowhorn Spires (which turned out to be an astrological observation facility), he’d neglected to mention that there were no horses or donkeys to ride. Rather, Martyn had been fastened to the head, or maybe the back, of a two-legged, lizard-looking, slightly feathered, mushroom-gobbling thing called a strider. That walked on lava.

At least the things were vegetarian.

“Over there are the Warped Towers, where most of the mushrooms are grown.” Tango said as his strider walked, pointing at a set of ominous towers glowing a radioactive blue. “And over there are the Ribcage Arches, where basalt is farmed. Oh! You can see the Soulsand Bridges right up ahead! We won’t be walking on them, though, cause the ignaduct hasn’t been extended far enough. Do you like the word ‘ignaduct’? I made it up myself!”

Martyn couldn’t do much but nod along, smiling occasionally and asking the rare question, such as “What exactly are crimson stems?” or “How does one farm lava, exactly?”. This time, he nodded.

Upon arriving at the Glowhorn Spires, Martyn had been shown to a very nice, if slightly off, set of living quarters. The bed was a bit too wide and the mattress a bit too long for a normal person, but it seemed to accommodate his injured wing quite well while also being very comfortable. The water closet was very dark, and had a redstone light set into the floor rather than the ceiling. The only window was a stained glass affair, bringing back some less than welcome memories, but it was very pretty. And the area rug was bright aqua.

Martyn had fallen into an odd sort of routine during his recovery. Wake up, carefully stretch his injuries, wander about for a bit, find breakfast somewhere (usually under the delightfully named Bloodstar Dome), and continue to wander the Neverglades until Tango inevitably called for him, either in person or via a skeleton, usually one named Logan or Evan. He’d then spend most of the day in the king’s Blackstone Throne Room, answering questions and standing awkwardly next to a gaggle of witch advisors, his bright green wings somehow fitting in with the reds and blues that accented the black everything.

This routine was by no means set, and would get disrupted nearly weekly by random construction projects or Tango wanting some ‘overlander advice’ at awful times of night. So he wasn’t exactly surprised by the king’s bursting into his room at 4 am.

“Martyn?! Maaartyn?! I’m sorry to wake you up, but someone’s asking after you.”

The bird jolted upright, a motion made easier by the lack of chest restraints this time. “BWHA! Ah, Tango, you spooked me. Someone’s asking after me?”

Tango nodded, his hair sparking with excitement. “Yep! They’re a bird-person too, I think. Got wings at the very least. Says their name is ‘unimportant’, and that ‘Sitter Sunset has an important message for you’, and that ‘you’re his best method of communication with this king’. I think he means me, right?”

Martyn stared for a second, before shaking his hair out of his face. “O-Okay, uh, give me a few minutes. Where are they waiting?”

“Alright! They’re at the peak of the Burniron Bridge. Said they wanted ‘a clear method of escape’. In all honesty, I can’t blame them!”

-

Martyn stumbled out of Glowhorn with his hair only half-bound by his headband and a mushroom omelette(?) stuffed into his mouth, sprinting as fast as his cast let him. Burniron wasn’t too far away, but the thing was several stories tall and his legs weren’t the strongest. He was only lightly panting upon reaching the pinnacle of the bridge.

He didn’t recognize the bird, but he did immediately notice that they weren’t a parrot. In fact, they weren’t a bird at all. Martyn didn’t quite know how Tango could mistake the large-eared, dark-coated, yellow-eyed mammal for any type of avian. But with the Basalt King, you really couldn’t be sure…

“Oh! You must be Martyn Viri—“

“JUNGLEWOOD! I-It’s Junglewood, actually. And you are?”

The bat-folk smiled. “Hypno. Hypno Tized, mercenary. Sitter Sunset hired me to get a message to you, since none of the parrots seemed to want to visit the Neverglades.”

“I wonder why.”

The smile widened into a full grin, showing off sharp teeth. “Indeed. Anyway, the Sitter wanted to tell you to try and get King Tek to visit the Coast this Eversun. He’s doing a reception-thing with as many rulers as he can convince to come, and since you’ve got this whole thing going with Tek, he’d like you to try and get him down there.”

Martyn blinked. “That’s it?”

Hypno shrugged. “Yep. Why, were you expecting more?”

“With Grian, honestly, yes. He’s usually very long winded.”

“Well, this time, that’s it. You got any other questions? Cause if not, the job’s done.”

“Oh, no. You can go, uh, Hypno.”

The bat nodded, before pulling something out of his pocket and flipping it at Martyn. The parrot caught it, and saw that it was a coin, gold and stamped with strange lettering.

“My calling card. Cast a little bit of comms magic with it, and you can hire me. See you whenever.”

Hypno suddenly snapped out a very large set of wings from under his coat, dark and patterned with yellow tattoos. He dove off the bridge, and flew off with a light jangling of metal. Martyn stared after him for a moment, before turning his violet eyes back to Glowhorn Spires.

-

He found Tango sitting under the Bloodstar Dome, munching on a large, raw chunk of crimson mushroom. The king stood up and waved as Martyn approached him, tossing the mushroom to a nearby strider that was just… there.

“How’d it go, Martyn? Did the maybe-bird, uh, deliver a good message?”

The parrot couldn’t help but laugh a little. “Well, yes. He did give me a good message. Hs name is Hypno, by the way, and he’s a bat, not a bird.”

Tango lightly tapped his fist into his other hand’s palm with a look of realization. “A bat-folk! No wonder he’s got such large ears!”

Martyn laughed again. “Yes, his ears are large. But his message from Grian concerns you as well, Tango.”

“It does?”

“Yes. Grian asked me to officially invite you to visit the Sunset Coast this Eversun.”

The king’s face lit up with a wide smile. “Really?! He’s inviting me? I think that’s a first! Of course I’ll come. And you’ll be going too, right? Since Grian and his people are also your people, right?”

“Of course! Why wouldn’t I?”

-

Grian, for once, got up with the sunrise.

Wings of red and yellow and blue snapped open as the sitter rolled upright, stretching to the ceiling in a routine that (somehow) hadn’t been broken for a week straight. Clawed hands rubbed violet eyes, and clawed feet didn’t stumble for once as their owner tugged on his day clothes. Grian’s face broke into an open grin as he looked out into the first light of Eversun.

“Goooooood morning, for once!” He called into the open air, voice unhindered by any glass. “Good morning sea, good morning sky, good morning random plant we effectively kidnapped from the jungle! Plant-knapped? Plant-knapped!”

With a whoop, the bird launched himself from the ledge and through the gate, air whistling through his ears as he soared away from the mostly finished Stratus Tower. That one was a mostly white affair, with streaks of orange and gold. Grian hoped it would be the first of a series of cloud-themed towers, if he ever got around to planning and finishing the others. But it was a different tower that he was heading for that morning.

Grian banked towards the sunrise, riding the cool winds that only rose during the edges of the day and night past the more complete towers. Reflection Spire glinted at him from the right, the smaller Brazen Spire nearly lost in the glare. He glided close enough to Aura Highrise’s side to brush the vines hanging off its gates, before rolling and doing the same to the bamboo within the planters of Summer Heights.

At last, he came to the structure closest to Climbing Spires, the most polished and largest one yet built. Flare Tower was hexagonal in shape, with six waterfalls and six intake pipes arranged in a stair-step pattern on its exterior. The wide planes of glass cut through the concrete walls, which themselves had a gradient from deep teal at the bottom to creamy white at the top. It was crowned by a twisting, arcing affair of gold and copper, shapes spilling like liquid sunlight from the asymmetrical spire. But most striking of all were the six massive gates cut into the walls at varying heights, empty space that allowed for the free movement of air and those that ride it. Grian dove for the uppermost of these gates, gliding through the central hole cut through the tower’s six floors to land softly on a moss carpet.

Almost immediately, the sitter was absorbed into the organized chaos of the Eversun preparations. A group of waitstaff-in-training, who were probably farmers with crops out-of-season, swept him up in their carefully measured steps. Grian cracked a few jokes and tasted a few fruits before spinning off into a circle of table-setting birds who were vigorously polishing a seemingly infinite number of forks and spoons and blunt knives and chopsticks. Where the latter pieces of cutlery had come from, Grian wasn’t entirely sure, other than that Cub had sourced them from somewhere. How one ate with sticks was something he still hadn’t figured out.

“Sir Sitter! Sir Sitter!”

Grian sleeked down in surprise, before he saw who was calling his name. “Oh, Mini! I didn’t know you’d be here.”

The grey-and-gold parrot smiled, a bit bashfully. “Well, I had some time off from directing the construction of Pegasus, and I wasn’t that far away, so…”

“You don’t need an excuse to be here, mate! Goodness knows you’re welcome anywhere. How goes the construction of—“ Grian lowered his voice conspiratorially “—project Evolution?”

“Good enough, I guess. It’s harder than you’d think to source obsidian around here. Cub’s got a chokehold on farming the stuff, but he uses it all for building. I was able to weasel some out of his head engineer, but not nearly enough to build the whole, uh, mainframe.” The technomancer looked unhappy using the code word, since he was used to dealing with absolute truths.

“Well, if you can stick around, there just might be a chance to weasel some obsidian out of the Basalt King, since he’ll be here later today!”

Mini Muka blanched quite considerably at the suggestion. “Me, talk to a king? To get stuff for Evolution? Isn’t he, like, famously from the, uh, second dimension? I-I don’t know, uh, isn’t Martyn close with the King Tek? Can’t he just ask for it?”

“Well, from what he’s told me over the past few months, Tango would question him if he so much as asked for a candle. In a well meaning way, apparently. If he asked for obsidian, he’d get suspicious for sure. But he’s also a, er, an eccentric, who I suspect would be sympathetic to the plight of a technomancer such as yourself!”

“O-Oh, fine. It’s not like I’ve got anything else on my schedule…”

-

“Land— er, uh, Sunset Coast in sight!”

The cry from the deer in the crow’s nest soon spread throughout the ship, and reached Queen Gemini’s ears within moments.

“We’re here? We’re here! Miss, could you go call Pan up from his berth? We’re about to dock!”

The fae-deer clambered out of her own cabin, hastily pulling the Crown of Needles around her antlers and smoothing out the nonexistent wrinkles on her dress. She’d adapted to ship life quickly, and now swayed with the movement of the deck like a natural-born sailor. Upon making topside, she nearly froze in place at the sight of the Sunset Coast’s silhouettes in the midday sunlight that reflected off the sea.

She flicked her ears in excitement as she took in the sight. “Oh wow! Towers, waterfalls, pipes of copper and planes of glass as far as the eye can see! Sitter Sunset, you wrote the truth!”

Suddenly, three shapes broke off from the nearest tower, streaks of color that dove straight down before skimming over the water towards the Pride of the Pines. All three circled the ship’s central mast a few times before landing on the deck.

“My lady, be you the Queen Gemini Taylor of Evergreen?”

The queen in question couldn’t help but preen a bit at the formal greeting, having gotten so used to being familiar with her subjects. “Why, yes. I am the Queen of the Crown of Needles. Be you representatives of the Sitter Grian Sunset?”

The lead parrot, a red-and-yellow-and-blue, nodded. “Yes, majesty. I am called Tomo Hawk. These—“ he gestured to the two others: a grey-and-gold and a blue-and-gold “—are Netty Play, and Big B. Stat. We are here to guide your ship into the dock at Flare Tower. Netty will stay with your helmsperson, and Big with your sail-riggers. I will be in the sky.”

“Aye, sir Hawk. Lead the way.”

-

Upon docking, Gem noticed that she was not the first ruler to arrive at Flare Tower. In fact, she was the third.

“Sovereign Cub? I should’ve expected you to get here first.”

The half-vex blushed, or at least seemed to. At any rate, his cheeks turned lightly translucent. “You know me too well, Queen Gem. But I didn’t actually get here first. Two people beat me.”

“Despite you living literally next door to the Sitter? Who could’ve gotten here faster?”

Cub shrugged, and gestured to a small alcove where two figures were speaking with each other behind a curtain of vines. “They did.”

As Gem approached, she exclaimed in surprise as the first exited the alcove. “Commander X? I had no clue that you were coming, or that the Sitter even knew you existed!”

That dragon-skull helmet laughed a bit, a light and gentle sound. “Oh, hello Queen Gem! For the record, I didn’t know you were coming either. And I was quite surprised to receive an invitation myself!”

“Hey, hey, don’t forget that I’m here too.” The other person ducked out from behind the greenery, and Gem gasped in recognition.

“Etho?!”

The canid visibly grinned beneath his mask. “Yup. The one and only. Oh, and before you ask, I just happened to be in Dragon’s Spine when X got the invite, and when the commander asked me if I’d like to tag along, I agreed. After all, there’s no quicker way to get from the north to the south than—“

X rounded on Etho. “That’s still a secret! Don’t go spilling what few I have left!”

He threw up his hands. “Alright, alright! I just thought that was common knowledge, y’know?”

As the two kept on bantering, Gem returned to Cub’s side. “Why do you think the commander’s here? And why did he bring the wanderer?”

“When has X’s intentions ever been clear? The fellow’s a literal black box. And Etho’s no better. Last time he was down in Spires, he got into a rather heated argument with Zedaph, who also happened to be here.”

“Ooh, bad luck.”

“That’s an understatement. I had to rebuild three whole hallways after that… situation.”

Just then, a set of very fast and very excited footsteps ran into the foyer where the three rulers and one Etho were, followed by a much lighter and rather bouncy set.

“WOW! Look at all this concrete! Did you cast it all at once! And these plants! They’re a bit yellow, but getting them to grow at all is amazing! Oh, hello, Sovereign Voidstars, Queen Gemini— AH! Commander X! A-And Etho! Fancy seeing you here!”

X started chuckling again. “Hello, King Tango Tek. And you must be Martyn Junglewood.”

The green parrot flushed something fierce. “Y-Yes, sir! Martyn Junglewood, diplomat!”

He stuck out a hand, and X’s gauntlet shook it. Judging from the look on his face, Martyn wasn’t expecting the strength in the commander’s grip.

“It is nice to meet you, Martyn. Tango has written rather frequently about you, and the things you have taught him about the Lands of the Sunrise.”

At this, Tango flushed, blue color rushing to his cheeks. “X! Those letters were written in confidence!”

As the blue-tinted King of the Basalt Throne joined in the joking verbal warfare, Gem realized that Pan was no longer next to her. Come to think of it, Martyn wasn’t anywhere in sight, either…

-

“Thanks for getting me away from them…” Pan stuttered, paws tapping nervously on the moss carpet.

“No problem, mate. I know firsthand how overwhelming Tango can be, and judging from what little I’ve seen of her, your queen seems to be much the same way.”

“Indeed. Queen Gemini can be very… familiar, I suppose.”

As they walked down the corridor, Martyn eyed the map-lord’s antlers. “So, uh, I don’t want to be rude or anything, but are you a jackalope?”

“Hm? Oh, yes, well, no, uh, it’s complicated. Mom’s a chicken-folk, dad’s a proper jackalope, so that technically means that I’m a wolpertinger. But my wings are stunted, and I don’t like having them out, so most people think I’m a jackalope.”

“Huh, I see.”

Suddenly, a group of parrots wheeled in from one of the glassless windows that lined the hallway, laughing and smiling. They tumbled to a stop upon catching sight of Martyn first, and immediately rushed over to hug Martyn.

“Oh! Hi, Netty! I, uh, wasn’t expecting to run into you here!”

The parrot in question detangled herself and smiled. “I wasn’t expecting to find you here either, dear! Who’s you friend?”

Pan blushed. “I-I’m Pan, ma’am, Pan Climbing-Moss. I’m here with Queen Gemini’s delegation, f-for the Eversun celebrations. Nice to meet you, uh—“

“Netty! Netty Play,” she responded with a smile, “and I’m so glad you’ve already met Martyn! He can be a bit shy, you see—“

“Honey! I am not shy.”

“Are too. Anyone who isn’t an avian makes you all flustered. And speaking of not avians, how do you get along with that King Tek? He seems to be a really nice person.”

Pan turned away as the couple continued to happily argue over Martyn’s sociability, and was promptly drawn into conversation with the other parrots who had flown in with Netty.

“Oh, hello, are you a jackalope? Or a calygreyhound? Or a chimera? Name’s System, by the way. System Zee, with two e’s.” was the greeting of a wide-eyed, goggle-wearing grey-and-gold.

“I don’t think I’ve ever met a rabbit-folk until now! I’m Tomo Hawk, and it’s nice to meet you, Pan!” said a red-and-yellow-and-blue with a shaved head and two trailing streamer feathers.

“Guys, don’t overwhelm him! Pleased to make your acquaintance, Pan. Big B. Stat.” interjected a curly haired blue-and-gold, as he (unsuccessfully) tried to stop the other two from shoving their faces in Pan’s.

In rapid succession, the map-lord had shaken three offered hands and accepted three offered hugs that involved wings. It seemed to him that parrot-folk were very touchy-feely in general.

All of a sudden, Netty jumped up with a flap of her wings, startling Martyn into stumbling back. She pressed a hand onto her ear while speaking. “Go ahead! Oh, okay! Guys, we’ve got the next ship to guide in! It seems li— wait, Joeyish, calm down! I can’t hear you and Salem at the same time! Calm down! Correction, we’ve got several ships to guide in! Two outriggers and three… uh, galleons? The big ones with really big sail— no, correction again, kinda small ones with relatively big sails.”

Pan managed to extricate himself from the other three parrots and half-hopped his way to Netty’s side. “Uh, if you don’t mind, but what colors are they flying? I-If you can find that out, of course.”

“Oh, no problem! You get that, Joeyish? Uh huh… yep, okay, thanks! He says that the outriggers are flying a green-and-lighter-green-and-yellow flag with a geometric maze-like pattern. And the small galleons are flying a grey-and-green-and-black-and-slightly-teal flag with four stripes of the green. Sound familiar?”

“Yes, yes. The outriggers must be from the Labyrinth, and the pattern confirms it. The small galleons, on the other hand, have to be from the Tangle.”

Netty was hopping up and down with anticipation at this point, leaning in to hug Pan quickly before jumping towards the window. “Thanks, Pan Climbing-Moss! I hope to see you later!”

She dove out into the afternoon sky, and was swiftly followed by the rest of the birds, each of whom waved before leaving. Once they were gone, Martyn sighed.

“Sorry if they overwhelmed you. Even back in the Emerald Lands, the Evo crew was know for being a bit… foreword.”

Pan flicked his ears in surprise, eliciting a jangle from his earrings. “Oh! They are foreword, certainly, but they’re also very nice. What’d you call them? The Evo crew?”

“Uh… yeah. It was an old acronym we made up as kids. Stood for ‘Emerald Vivid Ocean’, which we tried to make into a slang term for the tree canopy. It, uh, never caught on.”

-

Netty glided through the air, happily riding the thermals as she followed Joeyish and Salem’s directions to the incoming ships. The connection was getting spotty the further she strayed from Flare Tower’s Shrieker, but hey, that’s just the price of wireless communication. She quickly spotted the outriggers, and motioned for System to follow her. They broke off from Tomo and Big, who kept on soaring straight for the galleons.

The crow’s nest keeper quickly spotted the two parrots with a shout, and an official-looking fellow with an absolutely massive sword on his back stepped out of the shelter on deck. Even from in the sky, System could see him smile. It was an expression that completely suited the ocelot’s kind face.

“Hail, Luck of our Lady! Permission to land?”

The smiling ocelot waved them down. “Permission granted, parrot-folk!”

Netty and System twisted around the mast and came to a stop in front of the ocelot. Upon closer examination, he was quite clearly the Emperor of the Labyrinth. His robe was embroidered with a maze-like pattern, a looping thing that confused the eyes, done up all in green and gold and black. In contrast, his face was warm and simple, one that would seem wrong without smile lines and gentle crow’s feet.

“Hello, parrot-folk! I am Impulse Esvee, Emperor of the Emerald Throne! Be you representatives of the Sitter Grian Sunset?”

System responded. “Yes, we represent the Sitter of the Dusk Throne. I am called System Zee, and she is called Netty Play. We are here to guide your ships to dock at the Flare Tower. Netty shall guide your helmsperson, and I shall be in the sky.”

“Very well, System. I am glad for your help, for these waters are not familiar to me. Lead the way!”

-

A strangely colored red-and-black parrot had her eyes screwed shut, desperately feeling out through the Sensors to guide System away from any whirlpools or rogue waves. One toe on one clawed foot was locked in a rhythm that was unconscious to her now, as steady as any pendulum’s swing. After fifteen stressful minutes of audio-visual navigation, she sighed in relief as the Luck of our Lady slid into port.

“I really don’t know why you even bothered to learn the Sensors, Salem.”

Salem Lady shot her co-worker and friend a sharp look. “Joeyish, I don’t know why you haven’t learned the Sensors yet. You know the Shrieker, and it honestly isn’t that different.”

Joeyish Taurtis threw up his hands and odd blue-and-red wings in a plain expression of exasperation. “How many times do I have to tell you?! The Sensors mess with your brain, mate! They screw up all your neural pathways! I swear you’ve changed since you started operating large boards, Salem.”

“I started operating large boards at fifteen, Joeyish. Name one person who didn’t change after age fifteen.”

“Easy. Oli of the Crown of Grasses.”

“Wha— actually, no, that’s vaild. Honestly, he’s only gotten more like he was at fifteen, if memory serves.”

A voice suddenly crackled over the Shrieker system, distorted slightly by the distance and the medium. “Big to shrieker mainframe, acknowledge!”

Joeyish leaned over to his amethyst receiver. “Joeyish here, go ahead.”

“Aye! Both Luck of our Lady and Undertow are docked with their respective escorts! Got any more ships for us?”

Salem grasped her crystal and closed her eyes. “Salem here. Don’t think so… wait! I’ve got a real fast clipper racing up from the coast near Climbing Spires! I-I think it’s a brigantine? It’s got magic shoving it onwards, that’s for sure. Seems warm and kinda fiery… animal, I reckon. Tomo, you’re closest. Can you get eyes on it? The magic’s messing up my visual.”

A different voice came through the system in response. “Tomo here, on it! Seems like they’re flying a mostly orange and brown flag with a yellow center and some green elements in the background. That good?”

“Salem, aye. I think that’s Great Acacia, y’know, the nation of farmer monks and artisan nuns? The Sovereign Voidstars sent them a message, right?”

“Big here, and yes, Voidstars sent a invite. Acacia is also allied with the Labyrinth, so it’s safe to say that the Emperor would have told them about his invite.”

“Salem, gotcha. We can assume this ship is heading for Flare Tower, then. Tomo, Big, could you go escort them in? Joeyish’ll have to help you, since the Sensor is all jammed up.” The other parrot gave her a side eye before turning back to his console.

-

As Big and Tomo soared towards the speeding clipper, both immediately began to feel the magic that surrounded it. Salem was right; it was animal magic, warm and blazing and alive. And it was strong, far stronger than anything they’d seen outside of duels. Like a tame inferno, it pushed at the sails and tugged at the bow of the brigantine vessel. Tomo was unsure as to how they were supposed to land on the racing ship, but when he asked Big, the blue-and-gold just shrugged.

“Magic, right? Dive-bomb it comet style after we get permission. The real problem is getting permission.”

“I think I’ve got an idea for that.”

-

Brother Reginald flinched away from the sudden bright light that flashed from behind the sails of the Budding Leaves. It felt like animal magic, but he didn’t recognize the exact feeling it gave off; the light was somehow cooler than his own magic, and somehow felt humid. One look at at Brother Michael told the horse-folk that his elder agreed.

Suddenly, Sister Harmony pointed at the source of the light. “Brothers, there are parrots above us!”

Both monks’ heads snapped back to the light, which had lessened somewhat. Sure enough, two parrots, a blue-and-gold and a red-and-yellow-and-blue, were flying alongside the ship. The latter was the source of the light, as they grasped some sort of brightly colored conduit in their hand.

The blue-and-gold cupped their hands around their mouth and shouted. “Hail, Budding Leaves! We be the representatives of the Sitter Grian Sunset! Permission to land?”

The three hoof-folk shared a look, and came to a conclusion.

“Permission granted!”

-

Pearl jumped at the sudden thump of something on the deck above, snatching up her scythe reflexively. She forced herself to calm down before ascending topside. There she found a pair of unknown, armed, rather nervous looking parrots explaining something to Brother Michael.

“See, we could have just dive-bombed through your aura, but that would’ve stripped some of our own. So to preserve some of our energy, since it’s a decent flight back and we don’t have any rockets yet, we had to comet-bomb to get in here mostly unscathed. It’s a very strong aura though, so a little bit got shaved off the top anyw—“

With a start, the blue-and-gold noticed Pearl’s approach and nudged the other parrot, who immediately clammed up. Both hastily bowed to Brother Michael and turned with a smart salute to Pearl.

“Hail, High Priestess of Great Blackwood Pearl Moon! I am Big B. Stat, and this is Tomo Hawk! We be representatives of the Sitter of the Dusk Throne. We are to guide you into port at the Flare Tower. If it pleases you, I shall fly ahead while Tomo stays with your helmsperson.”

Pearl considered denying their help for a moment, not wanting to get into Grian’s debt anymore than she already had. But she reasoned that it would be best to stay civil until she could confront the bird herself.

“Aye. Lead the way, Stat.”

-

At this point, everyone aboard the Soaring Dream was thoroughly lost. The waters of the Sunset Coast were full of towers, each of which looked extremely similar to the others in Scar’s eyes. Mumbo was no help; he was thoroughly seasick and viciously uncomfortable near so much salt water. And the helmswoman had barely any experience dodging whirlpools.

As the light frigate hopelessly swirled about in the afternoon sunlight, Mumbo, who had stuck his head out of one of the portholes, suddenly gave a shout. “Duke Scar?! Duke Scar?! D-Do you see that?”

The half-elf leaned over the railing to stare at his engineer. “What is it, Mumbo? Do I see what?”

“Birds! Er, bird-people! Over there! They’re flying at us!”

“Oh! They are! I hope they know how to get to Fang Tower.”

“Flare Tower, sir duke. Flare Tower.”

-

“Tomo here. Salem, who’s that?”

The black-and-red gave a small yawn before answering. Hey, it had been a long day. “Salem, eye. Who’s who?”

“The little frigate over here! Real bright flag, blue on two different colors of green on orange with a tiny bit of yellow.”

“Uh… that’s Technicolor City. Grian sent their duke an invite, right?”

“Seems like it. But if the duke’s on this Soaring Dream, he’s in the wrong place. They’re all the way over by Ruby Skytouch.”

“Jeez, do they not have a navigator? Guide them over here, would you?”

“Tomo, on it.”

-

“Hail, Soaring Dream! Permission to land?”

“Oh, hello there! Yes, yes, permission to land!”

Tomo and Netty descended slowly to the frigate’s deck, the ship having drifted to a stop a while ago. What little crew Scar had brought were all waiting for the two parrots, looking rather windswept and hungry. Mumbo stumbled out of the captain’s cabin behind the duke, vines hanging limp and leaves wilting with seasickness.

“Hail, Duke of Colors! We be the representatives of Sitter Grian Sunset. I am Netty Play, and he is Tomo Hawk. We are to guide you to the Flare Tower. I shall stay with your helmsperson, and Tomo will fly ahead, if that pleases you.”

“Oh, yes, thank you! Thank you! I, uh, if you can’t tell, we’re hopelessly lost. Again, thank you!”

-

Grian cautiously felt through the Sensor system to take count of who had come. Gemini was standing off to one side with the wolf-fox fellow, Etho, was it? The strange Commander X with his dragon helmet was speaking with Cub, while the latest arrival, the Emperor Impulse, was talking with King Tango and Martyn.

With a sigh, Grian straightened from his personal console and sighed. He slicked his wing feathers before walking off the balcony and into the central atrium. He descended slowly, and everyone who was in the room caught sight of the sitter before he landed with a small flourish.

“Hello, honored guests, and welcome to the Sunset Coast! I apologize for my small absence; there was an issue with the security system that demanded my attention. I do hope you enjoy the food and entertainment this afternoon.”

With a (hopefully) dazzling smile, Grian was only barely able to snatch up a glass of glowberry juice before getting accosted by the very enthusiastic pair of Queen Gemini and King Tango.

The deer-like fae managed to get in a greeting first. “It is great to finally meet you, Sitter Sunset! I am Queen Gemini Taylor of the Crown of Needles; but you already know that! Your buildings are really incredible, with so much concrete and glass! Do you produce the materials here?”

Tango quickly interjected as soon as the queen had finished. “King Tango Tek of the Neverglades, sitter. Thank you so much for sending Martyn Junglewood over! He has been teaching me so much about you parrot-folk! And I concur with Queen Gem on the topic of construction materials. Do you produce the concrete yourself?”

Grian shook both their hands, his smile turning slightly sheepish. “It is truly great to meet you both, Queen Gemini, King Tango. And yes, we do produce concrete here. Lots of sand and gravel had to be dredged from the sea to build these towers, and Flare alone got us many tens of barges worth! If you’re ever in need of concrete, the Coast has you covered!”

As the three chattered away and bonded over their shared interest in complex building materials, Cub was still speaking with Commander X. The half-vex had correctly guessed that Grian was duly intimidated by the tall something in bone white armor, so he was trying to melt a little of the ice preemptively.

“Grian’s quite the character, if I do say so myself. He’s very fun when it comes to things he is interested in, like designing buildings, but he has no proper understanding of redstone whatsoever. There’s… something I would really like to hear your opinion on, but I don’t know if Grian is willing to share it yet. He’s kinda like you in that way.”

Despite the lack of outward facial expressions, it was obvious that X was smiling. “Oh, really? Well, there isn’t a lot that I haven’t seen at this point. Regardless, I do think I’ll like this parrot!”

In another shallow corner of the hexagonal room, Impulse was talking with Martyn and Pan on the topic of the Emeraldians‘ culture being so similar to that of the Labyrinth. Though the green parrot had been slightly standoffish (mostly due to Tango being an unreliable narrator), the Emperor’s extremely kind demeanor quickly won him and Pan both over.

“See? Our scrollwork is usually much more intricate, but the forms themselves are quite similar. Even your ships are similar to ours, just with equally sized canoes lashed together rather than a small outrigger and a larger vessel.”

“I see! It really is odd how similar they seem.”

“It makes one think of… oh, nevermind.”

“What, Pan? Don’t worry, nothing really surprises me anymore. Mini’s made sure of that.”

“Oh, well, it’s nearly a conspiracy theory, but, well, what if either the people of the Labyrinth or the people of the Emerald Lands came from the other? Perhaps there was some falling-out between the parrots and the ocelots, and one set out to live somewhere else?"

"Huh… sounds oddly plausible."

Suddenly, Grian jerked straight upright in seeming surprise. He pressed one finger to where his ear was hidden by his hair, and began frantically whispering into his wrist.

"What? What do you mean she's here already? Are you completely sure? Oh goodness…"

With a sigh, he rubbed his eyes before addressing the other people in the room. "I apologize for the interruption, folks. Two more rulers have just arrived, and though I have no objections to the presence of the Duke of Colors, the presence of the High Priestess of Great Blackwood will cause some issues. I have no wish to drag you into my personal battles, so if you would like to leave, you may do so now. And a warning to those who stay: this will get violent."

-

Tango looked on in confusion as the jovial and joking man he had been speaking to began checking his weaponry. "Uh, Sitter? I-If I may ask, what exactly is wrong with the High Priestess Pearl being here?"

The red-and-yellow-and-blue slid a potion back into its holster before turning to Tango, a somewhat sad expression on his face. "It's a long and rather boring story, but the short of it is… Pearl hates me because she owes me a debt that I extracted from her somewhat unfairly. And she's here to rectify that issue in some way, probably with a duel."

Gem suddenly popped into the conversation with a look of astonishment. "A duel?! Like, to the death?"

"Not to the death, but to humiliation. To surrender. If I surrender, she has no more debt to me. If she surrenders, she had more debt to me."

At that moment, Mini Muka burst into the atrium, followed by a rather confused looking Joeyish and Salem, each of whom had bundles of something in their arms. “Grian! I got what you wanted, and then some!”

The sitter smiled his wide smile, tinged with a little bit of viciousness. “I can always rely on you, Mafia. Thanks, and please get out of here.”

The grey-and-gold grinned back as he handed over the bundle. ”Of course, Empire. Just don’t hurt the mainframe.”

“Ha! I’ll try not to.”

-

“Mother Pearl! Are you sure about this?”

The high priestess looked back at Sister Harmony and Brother Michael, as Brother Reginald had decided to stay with the ship. “I am sure, younger sister. Great Blackwood and Great Blueskin are with me. I’ll either walk out of here myself, or you’re going to have to drag me out.”

-

“Uh, I’m sorry, Duke Scar, but, uh, I can’t let you off the ship.”

“Why not, Tomo? I don’t see anything on fire, or actively exploding, so it must be safe!”

-

“You’re staying too, Etho?”

“Yup. Don’t have anything else going on, and besides, I always love a good scuffle.”

-

Ren was crouched in the storage hull of the Undertow, desperately straining to hear what was happening outside. Everyone had known that he was on board, but didn’t want to ruin his mood.

-

Grian had barely finished hiding his new gear when Pearl marched into the room. Despite the moss carpet, her hooves clacked alongside her scythe. Her bright wool dress was hiked up to the knees, revealing strong leather armor on her legs. Matching guards covered her arms, neck, and chest, and for once, she wasn’t wearing her cowl. The colors of her clothes were made even more vibrant by the blazing magic aura that surrounded her.

“Sitter on the Dusk Throne, Grian Sunset,” she said, her face a mask, “or should I say, Grian Virida. I see you.”

-

Pearl barely recognized the bird who stood in front of her as the tiny noble boy she’d fought twelve years ago. He was taller now, but still lean and small, with even larger wings and longer legs. He’d tied back the long sleeves of his bright red robes with broad yellow ribbons, exposing flexible wood arm guards that had to have knives or needles or something else nasty hidden in them. His long belt was laden with even more weapons than before; knives, potions, darts, sticks of explosive and a flint-and-steel to light them.

She saw the parrot’s mouth contort into a mocking smile as he heard his real name. “Oh, that takes me back! Pearl Moon, Child of Great Blackwood. I see you.”

The priestess twirled her scythe into a fighting pose. “I challenge you to an honor-duel, to settle my debt to you, acquired twelve years previous.”

The sitter mirrored her, sinking into a crouch with wings splayed and cutlass drawn without a sound. “And I accept your challenge. No holding back.”

“No holding back.”

[roosterbox]

The Hannibal watching finally resumes! I might have gotten back to it in December, but that month SUUUUUCKED for me, in ways I cannot begin to summarize.

But this is a new month. A new year, even! And I am ready.

Also I took notes

Season 2! We in it baybeeeee

Hanni doing what he does best - slicing dat meat

Oh hai Jack

Reflections

Oh shit son

The girls are FIGHTING

One one hand, go Hannibal. On the other, FUCK HIM UP JACK

Oh damn, DAYUM, Jack just fucking BODIES him, Jesus

Jack with the tie garrote for the win… hold up!

Glass to the neck! Ah, who could have seen it coming?

Jack: *record scratch* yeah that’s me. You’re probably wondering how I got here…

Twelve weeks earlier…

So is this entire season just flashbacks to show how we get from the end of season one to Mizumono? Because okay, that’s a way to do it I suppose.

Moar meat

Oooooh sea urchin too

Hai again Jack

Title drop

“I never feel guilty eating anything.” Lol Hannibal

Talking about Will. Jack feels guilty, AS HE SHOULD.

Hanni says investigate me, bitch

My baby boyyyyyyy ❤️

Him fish

The stag. He’s thinking of Hannibal.

Ah, Chilton! You look a lot better than the last time I saw you, lol.

Also, surviving what you did? Respect.

Speaking of Chilton, what an asshole. He’s only saved in the series because he’s played by Raul Esparza, but movie Chilton? No redeeming qualities. ZERO.

Cynthia Nixon!

She’s an administrator, huh?

Everybody trying to figure out what went wrong with Will. It starts with an H and ends with annibal

New case!

Poor guys, lol

Bedelia!

Hanni just wants to see bae

“I miss him.” *screeching into the void*

“Will is my friend.” *currently emitting a noise only dogs can hear*

Hanni: hey boo

Will: alright time to seduce a cannibal how hard can it be?

Light years from friendship, lol okay sure Will

Oh shit, damn. Will with clarity is hot as fuuuuuuuck. Hannibal doesn’t stand a chance.

Y’know, I like Mads Mikkelsen as much as the next guy, but that’s a liiiiiittle close for me

BEV! God I love her. And don’t worry, I know the terrible irony in my saying that. I’m not going into this series COMPLETELY blind, after all

“It’ll be your evidence that convicts Will.” Boy she sure looks happy about that, lol.

Time to see how the other half lives, eh Hanni?

Water bloated bodies, lovely

I love fountain pens

I think Hannibal is very turned on that Will knows him, in a sense.

I ❤️ Gillian Anderson

Seeing these interactions between Hanni and Bedelia, I can more easily accept them running off to Europe together. Bedennibal doesn’t hold a candle to Hannigram, of course.

THE DOGS ❤️❤️❤️

Winston!!!!1!! He goes home to wait for Will 😭😭😭

That’s right, blame the encephalitis

Chilton you motherfucker

Hypnosis time

Dang Will, this is so not relaxing, lol

Quite a feast

EAR

more food! And vegetarian this time! Hannibal, you’re branching out!

Will won’t talk to Chilton - he’s a smart cookie

Hannibal: he thinks of me so much? Awwww boo…

Packed subway train. Thank god I’ve never been on one. So many people near me would give me a freaking mental breakdown.

“Nice skin.” Asdfjklbfjblk this is exactly what would happen, my mind tells me

That guy’s probably dead

Inside the mind of a killer. Would be creepy if the show wasn’t named after the baddest killer of them all, lol.

Hey Zeller!

Jimmy! I love you too! Always gotta show love to one of the Kids in the Hall

Bev is still thinking 🤔

I freaking love Bev and Will’s friendship, seriously

Getting a consult

Ah, prison food. Not like the stuff hanni made for you, huh?

So… Hannibal forces a long pipe down Will’s throat. At what point exactly does this stop being subtle?

Wait, was it even supposed to be subtle? Lmaooo. (I am aware it was not)

And that’s the story of the ear

Jack, feeling contemplative. Still wondering what went wrong.

I’m still crying over Winston *sobs*

I still like Alana, dang it.

“Hannibal’s not guilty.” Lmaooo Jack you are a leading FBI agent, this isn’t a good look for you, my dude.

Side note: I love Jack, partially because he’s Laurence Fishburne, but even the Scott Glenn one is alright. But he is kind of a dick.

Moar fishing

Dreaming about Jack - Hanni would be so jealous, lol

My blorbo ❤️

Hannibal just stares at Will’s empty chair, lmaooo this pining loser

Is this the exact moment where it hits home for Hannibal that Will being in jail means he can’t see him as much? Lol.

Oh dang, my dude is still alive! What a fucking trooper.

That is quite a display of bodies.

And that’s Kaiseki, finished. Good cliffhanger, lol

(btw the fact that my twelfth note is the twelve weeks earlier caption? A happy accident, I assure you.)

[jmesther]

Ok where do start?

“Zuko and Katara understood each other, communicated honestly and openly, and respected their wants/needs” Not exactly in fact they were both kind of confused about each other perfect example the southern Raiders Zuko did not understand what was with Katara so is he seeks out the answer. Finds out decided that she needed revenge. Because he thought that’s what she wanted/needed. (I don’t blame him because he didn’t know Katara very well) Aang on the other hand knew that if Katara were to kill Yon ra she would feel bad afterwards because what she NEEDS not want is closure. And that is exactly what Aang advised her. “don’t try and stop us.” I wasn’t planning to.” ”This is a journey you need to take. You need to face this man.” Aang understood her needs better than Zuko did. I mean, the man said himself. “You were right about what Katara needed, violence wasn’t the answer” We see Zuko being a great friend to Katara trying to understand Katara and eventually succeeds by the help of Aang because Aang already understands Katara. And you’ve probably heard this before, but I’ll say it again. They both survived genocides.

A perfect example of Katara not understanding zuko is crossroads of destiny “I used to think this scar marked me. The mark of the banished prince curse to chase the Avatar forever, lately I realize I’m free to determine my destiny even if I’ll never be free of my mark.“ he definitely meant that in a way of speaking of what his father did and told him to do. Katara of course completely oblivious kindly offers to heal it for him and touches it which could very well be her simply examining his scar but believe you wanna believe. Did they both lose their mothers yes Zuko was very kind to offer that comforting. But if you want to use a comics, go ahead and use the comics Zuko got her mother back. Guess who didn’t got their mother back?

I think in episode Bato of the southern water tribe was the first time Aang saw animal pelts because (again you want to use the comics fine) in the tale of Sokka the avatar (takes place in season two) Sokka and Aang go to a animal pelts cart Aang is undisturbed and puts one on and says “Hey, Sokka, what do you think? Now we both have ponytails.” THEN LATER the cart keeps informs Sokka that it is fake Animal skins and that “I’m a strict vegetarian, and I love animals.” And Aang is like “Hey! Me too!”. Yeah Katara could have very decorated Kya’s and her room with this.

In the cookbook of avatar the last airbender Aang is shown to cook for his wife and honestly I really don’t see the problem here my dad is in a keto diet and I have to bake for him and the rest of family now keto is a strict diet being vegetarian just means no meat. That doesn’t mean no eggs or any of that stuff that’s vegan. Aang is vegetarian I don’t see why Katara would have any problems. And what he makes sounds genuinely good to me. He definitely doesn’t treat her like a housewife.

She impacted the world with those few things you listed as far as concerned is the peoples fault they don’t recognize Katara more. She’s definitely known for fighting in the war. Would she have more recognition as the fire lady? No.

You know, I’m sure her and Aang came to the conclusion that Kya should be raised in the SWT culture, Tenzin should be raised in Air nomad culture, Bumi should be raised in a well rounded household. Did they argue? Honestly over that? Hell no, but let’s go with this one: Probably who doesn’t. But would it be to the point where I would call it fighting? No. I’ve seen my parents fight. I know what it looks like. Trust me. It’s like a daily event. With threats of divorce that are said seriously yet we always come back together some how sometimes I’m genuinely confused on how we fixed that. I should probably get therapy, but yeah, they would not be fighting over culture.

Could’ve Zuko been a better father figure than Aang. Yea what’s your point? Aang’s duty is to the world as the avatar he had one more problem to solve. Raise the Airbenders. He shouldn’t have neglected his other children. But spending more time with Tenzin is what I expect from him. He told him all he knew about the culture. Isn’t that what Katara accepted? She knew that was exactly what she was going deal with when she married Aang.

But when she married the avatar she also married an air nomad she could go wherever she wanted to go with him every now and then. I agree with you Katara is passionate and is the type of person that does whatever she likes. Post-war she stay with Aang and her friends and didn’t went home until The north and south comic when Aang was away briefly then came back in part two. When Aang died she came back to her old home. Think about it Katara has two places she calls home anywhere with Aang, and the SWT.

What is it with she has to forfeit her culture? She doesn’t have to forfeit anything. Aang would never do that to her. Do you like using comic, Aang was very respectful to her culture while in north and south. Why y’all acting like you’ve seen him do this to her in canon?

Aang and Katara UNDERSTOOD EACH OTHER, COMMUNICATED HONESTLY AND OPENLY, AND RESPECTED EACH OTHER’S WANTS/NEEDS.

God you’re so delusional. I got more and more angry 😅

KaTaang vs. Zutara: on the basis of Cultural Imbalance.

Despite how much the ATLA showrunners do mental gymnastics to tell us Katara was totally fine being with the Avatar without taking a second to wonder how that would affect her personal wants/needs, it’s still apparent that the relationship had a cultural imbalance.

Everything about the narrative post-ATLA implies that Katara at some point had to set aside her dying Southern WaterTribe customs and focus on Aang’s practically extinct customs.  Just as an example, see Katara’s behavior in The Rift comic, compared to Toph’s, when it comes to following traditions unquestionably.  She supported Aang’s traditions and customs without even understanding where they were coming from, or wondering if they were outdated or went against things she believed in.

Also, to put things more in perspective about a woman of the SWT being with a young monk from the Air Temples…  

Imagine, for a moment, that you were from a meat-eating culture and starting a relationship with someone whose not only a strict vegetarian… but someone who has a strong, deeply-rooted religious set of principles on how they see living creatures, conflict, and the universe in general– not to mention, the only person in the world left behind to preserve and pass on this ancient way of life.

Yeah.

No way could Katara ever eat meat, or wear furs, or hang pelts in their house.

If anything, she would have her own separate SWT room to honor those things in her own private time.  If she’s lucky, she would share these things with Kya and Bumi but definitely not Tenzin.  Aang would not want his next of kin around anything that would taint the air-benders’ way of life.  (It’s implied in Legend of Korra that Tenzin’s cultural upbringing was strictly air-nomad, too.)

Let’s not deny it; Katara was proud of her SWT heritage – we see her passionately demonstrating so in episodes like “Imprisoned,” “Bato of the Southern Water Tribe,” and “The Puppetmaster” – and there’s no convincing me that the Katara we saw in ATLA wouldn’t have fought hard to play an active part of the SWT cultural reconstruction, keeping those traditions alive not just in her homeland but in her own everyday life.  I have a hard time believing that Katara and Aang didn’t fight at least once about this.  

And you better believe that things got worse when they started having kids.  

By then, Katara would be trapped in a relationship with the Avatar and the Last Airbender, internally dealing with the auto-forfeiture of her culture.

Furthermore, exploring the concept of parenting, Aang didn’t grow up with parents.  He didn’t “get” the concept of co-parenting between a mom and dad.  He didn’t really stay at the temples long enough to understand discipline - Gyatso seemed to go pretty easy on him on that regard.  All Aang knew was mentorship from the monks, learning to deal with community and conflict in a peaceful, non-consequential way.  Aang ran away at the age where he should have started learning about accountability and responsibilities… but he won the arrested-developmental lottery when he met Katara.

Katara was always vouching for Aang’s decisions, defending his behaviors, protecting his child-like innocence.  Aang was comforted in this notion that Katara would always be there, at his side, with everything.  She would always be there to physically and emotionally “pick up after him”.  Katara groomed Aang to focus only on his duty as the Avatar and whatever he personally wanted/needed, setting aside her own needs and keeping any possible opposing opinions to herself. (This is grossly apparent with their behavior in the post-ATLA comics.). 

This is the kind of behavior that validates why Katara’s character in Legend of Korra is placed in the sidelines, all of a sudden… only seen as the Avatar’s wife and mother to the Avatar’s children.  She doesn’t carry an identity enough in the narrative to be praised by any of her accomplishments other than what she did for the Avatar. 

(Yeah, Katara was a healer, and she did outlaw blood-bending… but did that really do anything?  She wasn’t able to heal Korra either time she attempted to do so, and blood-bending was running rampant despite the outlaw.  Plus, this is just a fraction of what Katara’s passion in the original show could’ve shown us.  Our girl could’ve moved mountains for the new world, had her narrative been able to carry its own weight outside of the Avatar’s narrative.)

Compare all of that to Zuko, who understood fatherhood and learned about the qualities of kind, loving father thanks to his time with Uncle Iroh.  He learned about the qualities of a healthy, supportive relationship based on partnership and honesty… because let’s be real: Zuko spent enough time with Sokka/Suki to know that was not the kind of relationship he had with Mai.

Zuko and Katara understood each other, communicated honestly and openly, and respected their wants/needs without forcing any ideas or principles on them.  Zuko learned to respect and appreciate the SWT culture because of what his people did trying to conquer it… and I strongly believe he would help bring that nation back to fruition.  

And, Katara and Zuko both come from meat-eating cultures.

Of course, Aang would feel hurt and bitter about Katara choosing Zuko at the end of the story… but I still imaging Aang growing out of that attachment, finally seeing what Katara wants and needs.  He would support that relationship of his two best friends. The most selfless people he ever met.  His mom, and his dad.

[scrmqvn]

I would like to point out that this was the entire Denali clans decision not just Irina, she couldn’t make a decision for the entire coven especially since she isn’t the leader. Let me show you how it looks from the Denali’s perspective; Laurent is a vampire, even if the Denali are vegetarians they weren’t for a long time and they probably don’t think badly on non-vegetarian vampires just like the Cullens don’t, it is natural for vampires to prey on humans. 2. The Denali respect the law. The Cullens do not, and their refusal to follow the law is ultimately what started this whole mess in the first place. 3. The Denali agree to help the Cullens if the Cullens help them get revenge. The Cullens do not agree, therefore they basically say “If you don’t help us we won’t help you”.

To summarize: Bella is a human, by the law she should be turned or killed and as long as she’s human the Cullens are breaking the law. Laurent would be following the law by killing Bella, and he would be following his natural instincts as a vampire. Laurent wouldn’t have attempted if the Cullens had turned Bella like they were supposed to. So from their perspective, Laurent was unjustifiably killed and the Cullens are to blame. They ask the Cullens to rectify this by stepping aside and allowing them to take revenge on what the Denali see as an inhuman species which hate vampires for being vampires and are therefore their natural enemies to begin with. They even throw a cherry on top and say; “Hey if you let us do this, we will turn a blind eye to your law breaking and help you keep your human alive.” The Cullens refuse and still have the audacity to ask whether they will be helped. The Denali make the decision to let the Cullens deal with their own problems.

THEN, the Cullens have a hybrid child. This is not against the law, and in fact if they had went to the Volturi with this the Volturi wouldn’t have punished them for it. The Cullens have not broken the law in this, and in fact hybrids are better at keeping the secret than regular vampires because they are closer to human. The Volturi may have wanted to observe Renesmee as they did with the immortal children before outlawing them but would have ultimately failed to claim Renesmee as an immortal child because of her incredible self control and growth rate. So far, the only real gripe the Volturi had with the Cullens is their refusal to turn Bella human which they have now done as promised.

They don’t do this. So when Irina goes to FIX things with the Cullens she see what she believes can only be an immortal child, something that is not only illegal but something she has a personal history with. This is it, to Irina the Cullens have crossed a line with or without Laurent. In this, Irina is the responsible one who goes and informs the Volturi that the law has been broken.

And what do the Cullens do? Not smooth over the misunderstanding, they choose to amass an army. The whole reason the Volturi show up is because the Cullens have not only broken the law, but are actively challenging their rule. THIS COULD ALL HAVE BEEN AVOIDED IF THE CULLENS INFORMED THE VOLTURI.

So then, Irina is executed. But only on false information that was fed to her accidentally by the Cullens. Irina couldn’t possibly have known the truth about Renesmee.

Everything that happens to the Denali is the Cullens fault. And if I were the Volturi, I would wipe out the Cullen clan at the first chance because they do not respect the law or understand the full scope of their actions, and in fact they’ve gotten away with a lot simply through Carlisle’s friendship with Aro.

[hannibutts]

HANNIBAL SPOILERS S02E11

Serial Killer Will is born I suppose.

I find the scenes of animals being slaughtered or eaten like that Ortalan scene to be super nauseating. I’m not vegetarian but it’s… a lot. I don’t know if I was projecting but Will looked slightly ill half way… Hannibal looked like he was sporting a giant murder donger underneath the table.

Wait. So Will glued Freddie to a wheel chair and set her on fire?? That’s what happens to Freddie Lounds in the book but (spoiler alert for red dragon the book) It’s the tooth fairy/Dolarhyde that kills Freddie… I think Will sets Freddie up or something so Will is slightly to blame, but Dolarhyde ends up ripping Freddie’s lips off, gluing him to a wheelchair and setting him on fire.

I realise the Hannibal series isn’t completely canon to the books but it’s cool to see Bryan Fuller bringing in aspects of the books even if they’re not exactly the same. Though if Will did that, that’s quite the escalation… though maybe not considering his first proper kill, he tore the body apart and made a man bear wolf hybrid 🤷🏻‍♀️

The intro didn’t burn as much this time because the Freddie fire was already bright 😅

Hannibal and Will finishing each others sentences and eye fucking and Jack is like yeah this perfectly normal.

Oh Shit, Margot actually did get pregnant from Will. Well this is a whole other thing being introduced.

Hannibal playing Maury and Will being rightfully upset. Dick move from Margot but at least she gets to kill her brother now. Oh wait, probs not until she find out if it’s going to be a boy or not.

Man they really said gave the ol’ Gyro Gearloose for Michael Pitt’s hair huh?

He plays creepy psycho so well, I remember an old episode of SVU where he scared the ass out of me… and of course funny games.

Alana (booo) has made it clear she doesn’t want anything to do with Will and she doesn’t want Hannibal to have anything to do with Will but now she’s all on her high horse demanding to know if Will killed Freddie (the fact that he did is irrelevant 😂).

A - I don’t think Hannibal is good for you and I think your relationship is destructive.

W - Hannibal’s good enough for you.

Ohohohoho - like if she thinks Hannibal is so damaging to Will then why is SHE still with him?

Aw poor Will still trying to keep her safe even if it’s very likely she ends up shooting him.

Michael Pitt is playing Mason Verger like Batman villain… oh yeah, I forgot Mason is a PDO blurgh

Hannibal is so done with mason already. Wait, did Hannibal just indirectly tell Mason that Margot is pregnant?

More bitchy Alana (boo)

Oh shit Hannibal and Will finally talking about Abigail, and Hannibal actually apologised… kinda. Will is apparently all in on the baby with Margot.

Ahhhhahaha Alana is starting to figure WHAT kind of relationship Hannibal and Will have.

How far along could Margot be at this point? Aren’t we still within that 12 week cut off date of when jack and Hannibal brawl??? YOU’RE TELLING ME EVERYTHING THAT HAS HAPPENED THIS SEASON HAS HAPPENED WITHIN 3 MONTHS???

Another mental ping pong between Will and Hannibal, maybe Alana is just pissed that Hannibal is obviously spending a shit ton more time with Will than with her at this point.

Oooh the fact that Hannibal made a joke about Will seeing “a part of“ Abigail … is he really talking about her ear that Will threw up?? 😂

I can’t tell if Hannibal is trying to help Margot or just fuck with both her and mason and steering the carnage more towards mason.

See again with Alana being dickmatised because in all scenarios with Will she’s accused him of doing awful shit due to Hannibal’s therapy but when she’s with Hannibal she’s all doe eyed and ready for the murder dick. Oopa Hannibal does not like that’s she’s been practicing with a Gun… ooof I could see a situation where Hannibal hurts Alana because of it and it will be Will’s fault. Just like even though Will didn’t mean to - Chilton getting shot was indirectly his fault too.

Ha is Alana cheesing it?? Nope Margot - yeah babes, I would too if she wants to keep the Will baby. Pretty sure mason was insinuating THEY should make a baby, that would have me running too. OH FUCK, that truck hit her dead on! There is no way that was a coincidence. TWAS THE PIG GUY!

Oh christ what is mason going to do. Oh fuck he’s going to make it so she can’t have kids, isn’t he. Yikes.

The actress who plays Margot looks heaps like Jenna Malone.

Alana is unraveling and with good reason, she’s being lied to by everyone but I still remain in The Boo Alana camp because NONE of this would be happening if she had believed Will and not turned her back on him.

Did Alana say if Jack believes Chilton IS the ripper or WAS… because I realise I may be grasping at straws here but they’ve never confirmed if Chilton died.

Bah! I knew it! Fucking Freddie Lounds is alive and ready to annoy for another day! Boooooo

But also Alana finally realising she’s been played. Hopefully her decisions won’t be based on Murder dong anymore.

Oh shiiit Will and Hannibal wordlessly deciding Mason needs to pay for what he did to Margot and the baby.

Bahahaha Will just tackling Pig guy to the snow was hilarious.

Oh good punch from Will and flat out telling mason that everything has been Hannibal’s idea.

Ok… so Will is for sure not well but at least he’s not as deep as originally thought? Did he actually kill Man Bear Pig too or was that a ruse? They made a big song and dance about the remains for sure being Freddie’s too.

Hopeful that Babygirl is alive.